SPO-MARATHON-ROUTE

Altered course for elite runners in Mumbai Marathon
    Mumbai, Jan 16 (PTI) The elite runners in the
competitive section of the 16th Tata Mumbai Marathon will make
a lap of the Oval Maidan on the race's outward stretch on
January 20.
    Announcing the slightly altered route, Race Director
Hugh Jones said this change will enhance the runners' overall
experience as compared to the earlier years.
    "The course is changed a bit. There is pretty much a
full lap of the Oval Maidan.
    "There will be a U-turn like in an athletic track,"
Jones said at a media conference here Wednesday.
    He also said the casual runners will all finish at a
different spot on the opposite side of the Azad Maidan in
South Mumbai and not outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Terminus which is both the start and finish point for the
elite runners.
    "There is a different finish for the open category
runners, on the other side of the Azad Maidan.
    But the overlap of slow runners with the elite ones at
some stretches is inevitable even though the two starts are
spread out.
    "But there are also stretches where the elite athletes
will have a clear run," he explained.
    "We hope for a more exciting finish on Sunday," hoped
Vivek Singh of race organisers Procam International.
    A host of elite distance runners from Africa have
entered the race along with top Indian runners like Asian
Marathon men's champion Gopi T and Asian Games women's
steeplechase medallist Sudha Singh. PTI SSR
RSY RSY